ainly much interested in the long time past when
he had put the place in order for his own convenience. Now he seemed
even more interested and more serious. He went from room to room with a
grave face and looked things over carefully. He had provided himself
with comforts and even luxuries before his first coming and they had
been of the solid baronial kind which does not deteriorate. It was a
little castle and a forgotten one, but his rooms had beauty and had not
been allowed to be as gloomy as they might have been if stone walls and
black oak had not been warmed by the rich colours of tapestry and
pictures which held light and glow. But other things were coming from
London. He himself would wait to see them arrive and installed. The
Macaurs wondered what more the "young leddy" and her woman could want
but took their orders obediently. Her woman's name was Mrs. Dowson and
she was a quiet decent body who would manage the household. That the
young widow was to be well taken care of was evident. A doctor was to
ride up the moorland road each day to see her, which seemed a great
precaution even though the Macaurs did not know that he had consented to
live temporarily in the locality because he had been well paid to do so.
Lord Coombe had chosen him with as discreet selection as he had used in
his choice of the vicar of the ancient and forsaken church. A rather
young specialist who was an enthusiast in his work and as ambitious as
he was poor, could contemplate selling some months of his time for value
received if the terms offered were high enough. That silence and
discretion were required formed no objections.

* * * * *

The rain poured down on the steep moorland road when the carriage slowly
climbed it to the castle. Robin, seeming to gaze out at the sodden
heath, did not really see it because she was thinking of Dowie who sat
silently by her side. Dowie had taken her from the church to the station
and they had made the long journey together. They had talked very little
in the train though Dowie had been tenderly careful and kind. Robin knew
she would ask no questions and she dully felt that the blows which were
falling on everybody every day must have stunned her also. What she
herself was thinking as she seemed to gaze at the sodden heather was a
thing of piteous and helpless pain. She was achingly wondering what
Dowie was thinking--what she knew and what she thought of the girl she
had